12,000-Year-Old Human Statue Discovered at Göbekli Tepe

Excavation country of Göbekli Tepe. Credit: Teomancimit / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Archaeologists person uncovered a uncommon quality statue astatine Göbekli Tepe, wide regarded arsenic the world’s oldest temple and 1 of the astir important archaeological sites successful the world.

Built astir 9600 B.C., the tract predates Stonehenge by 6,000 years and the Egyptian pyramids by 7,000 years. Its monolithic T-shaped pillars, carved with carnal motifs, connection unparalleled penetration into aboriginal quality content systems.

The find was announced by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy during the inauguration of restored Structure C, the site’s largest and astir striking enclosure.

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A quality statue, mounted horizontally wrong a country partition and thought to person been placed arsenic a votive offering, was recovered successful the country betwixt Structures B and D of Göbeklitepe.

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Discovery of the statue

The statue was recovered lying horizontally wrong the partition of a enclosure positioned betwixt Structures B and D. Researchers judge it was deliberately embedded into the architecture arsenic a votive offering, a ritual signifier intended to integrate symbolic objects into ineffable spaces.

Similar finds person been reported astatine Karahantepe, different Neolithic site successful the aforesaid region, suggesting shared taste traditions crossed the Taş Tepeler, oregon Stone Hills, archaeological complex.

A model into Neolithic beliefs

Experts accidental the find is of large value for Pre-Pottery Neolithic studies. It offers a uncommon glimpse into the symbolic satellite of societies undergoing the melodramatic displacement from nomadic hunting and gathering to imperishable settlements and domestication.

Each practice discovered astatine Göbekli Tepe adds to an emerging representation of the content systems and rituals that shaped humanity’s earliest communities.

Restoration of Structure C completed

The announcement came alongside the unveiling of Structure C’s restoration, portion of the “Heritage for the Future Project.” Archaeologists and conservators returned the monolithic T-shaped chromatic pillars — immoderate astir 20 feet gangly and weighing respective tons — to their archetypal documented positions.

Kültür ve Turizm Bakanı Ersoy’dan Göbeklitepe’de yeni keşif açıklaması:

"Göbeklitepe’nin B ile D yapıları arasındaki mekânda, bir oda duvarının içerisinde yatay vaziyette duvara monte edilmiş ve adak olarak yerleştirildiği düşünülen insan heykeli bulundu." pic.twitter.com/bVQUOwGLMX

— Onedio (@onediocom) September 19, 2025

The surrounding walls were reinforced, and a peculiar mortar made with goat hairsbreadth was applied to replicate Neolithic operation methods and sphere authenticity.

Minister Ersoy described the restoration arsenic a milestone successful safeguarding the tract and confirmed that caller visitant facilities, parking areas, and walking paths volition unfastened by the extremity of 2025.

Three decades of excavation

First surveyed successful the 1960s and excavated systematically since 1995, Göbekli Tepe has reshaped the knowing of aboriginal quality history. The site, added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List successful 2018, is present a centerpiece of the Taş Tepeler Project.

Ten archaeological sites successful southeastern Turkey are presently being explored by 36 planetary institutions and much than 200 experts and students.

Göbekli Tepe is not lone an archaeological tract but the shared representation of humanity, Ersoy explained. Their ngo is to uncover, preserve, and walk this practice to aboriginal generations.

Global signifier for past heritage

The site’s taste value extends acold beyond Turkey. In 2023, the accumulation “Göbeklitepe: The Mystery of a Sacred Place” astatine the Colosseum successful Rome drew much than six cardinal visitors.

Next year, Berlin’s James-Simon Gallery volition big “Myths successful Stone: Göbeklitepe and the World of the Last Hunters,” presenting 96 artifacts from the Şanlıurfa Museum collection.